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Topic · Plant Science

Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management

Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management is a research topic within Plant Science. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the factors influencing fruit ripening and quality in horticultural crops, with a focus on ethylene biosynthesis, genetic regulation, polyphenol oxidases, modified atmosphere packaging, aroma compounds, metabolic shifts, and the role of plant hormones. The research covers preharvest and postharvest influences, as well as molecular and biochemical aspects of fruit development and ripening.

  • Fruit Ripening
  • Ethylene Biosynthesis
  • Postharvest Factors
  • Horticultural Crops
  • Genetic Regulation
  • Polyphenol Oxidases
  • Modified Atmosphere Packaging
  • Aroma Compounds
  • Metabolic Shifts
  • Plant Hormones
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management

Which countries lead Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (2.4k and 764 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 India 764 works
  3. 3 United States 373 works
  4. 4 Brazil 316 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 281 works
  6. 6 Spain 228 works
  7. 7 Iran 191 works
  8. 8 Italy 183 works
  9. 9 Mexico 140 works
  10. 10 South Korea 140 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 47.3%India: 15.4%United States: 7.5%Brazil: 6.4%6 others listed: 23.4%47%largest
China2,351 · 47.3%India764 · 15.4%United States373 · 7.5%Brazil316 · 6.4%6 others listed1,163 · 23.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences publishes the most Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research, followed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 252 works
  2. 2 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 132 works
  3. 3 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 94 works
  4. 4 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 63 works
  5. 5 China Agricultural UniversityChina 59 works
  6. 6 Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 56 works
  7. 7 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 55 works
  8. 8 Punjab Agricultural UniversityIndia 51 works
  9. 9 Shenyang Agricultural UniversityChina 47 works
  10. 10 Shandong Agricultural UniversityChina 46 works

Who are the leading researchers in Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management include Jun Wang, Xiaogang Wang and Lei Jiang.

  1. 1 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  4. 4 Bruce Leonard Miller United States 196k citations
  5. 5 David Julian McClements United States 185k citations
  6. 6 Kazuo Shinozaki Japan 170k citations
  7. 7 Jian‐Kang Zhu China 164k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management?

The most cited paper in Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management is "Thermal Processing Enhances the Nutritional Value of Tomatoes by Increasing Total Antioxidant Activity" (Veronica Dewanto, Xianzhong Wu, Kafui Kwami Adom et al., 2002), with 3,473 citations. Next come "Leaf Epicuticular Waxes" (2,838) and "Preharvest and postharvest factors influencing vitamin C content of horticultural crops" (2,456).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Thermal Processing Enhances the Nutritional Value of Tomatoes by Increasing Total Antioxidant Activity Veronica Dewanto, Xianzhong Wu, Kafui Kwami Adom et al. · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 17 Apr 2002 3,473
2 Leaf Epicuticular Waxes G. Eglinton, Richard Hamilton · Science 9 Jun 1967 2,838
3 Preharvest and postharvest factors influencing vitamin C content of horticultural crops Seung K. Lee, Adel A. Kader · Postharvest Biology and Technology Nov 2000 2,456
4 CTR1, a negative regulator of the ethylene response pathway in arabidopsis, encodes a member of the Raf family of protein kinases Joseph J. Kieber, Madge Rothenberg, Gregg Roman et al. · Cell Open access Feb 1993 1,966
5 Ethylene Biosynthesis and Signaling Networks Kevin L.-C. Wang, Hai Li, Joseph R. Ecker · The Plant Cell Open access May 2002 1,858
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research done?

The largest centres of Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Hangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xingcheng, Rishon LeZiyyon and Tai’an.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 333 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 118 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 96 works
  4. 4 HangzhouChina 85 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 72 works
  6. 6 New DelhiIndia 64 works
  7. 7 YanglingChina 63 works
  8. 8 HaikouChina 63 works
  9. 9 ShenyangChina 59 works
  10. 10 LudhianaIndia 59 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. XingchengCN · 23.1 works237×
  2. Rishon LeZiyyonIL · 20.2 works65×
  3. Tai’anCN · 47.8 works26×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management than the world average.

See Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management on the map

Where is the best place to study Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management?

Among universities, judged by research, Jiangsu University, Northwest A&F University and China Agricultural University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.93%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Jiangsu UniversityNanjing Agricultural…Northwest A&F Univer…China Agricultural U…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Jiangsu UniversityChina 80.437.9%6.3×31 +133.9%
2Northwest A&F UniversityChina 71.616.1%26.3×63 +40.5%
3China Agricultural UniversityChina 71.115.9%17.4×59 +58.9%
4Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 70.817.2%23.6×56 +40.6%
5Shandong Agricultural UniversityChina 67.618.3%42.6×46 +56.7%
6Gansu Agricultural UniversityChina 63.922.2%42.1×38 +205.2%
7Yangzhou UniversityChina 62.824.2%6.1×20 +69.9%
8South China Agricultural UniversityChina 62.717.9%18.1×39 +62.5%
9Shandong University of TechnologyChina 62.327.2%12.1×19 +114.0%
10Zhejiang UniversityChina 61.122.4%2.0×32 +15.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management, country by country

Is Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.028% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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